The sun was still relatively high in the sky. They had a few hours before dark, plenty of time to move away from Salez, which was good. Sooner or later Sara's former owner would realize that he was a person short. There was a lot to worry about, but nothing that Legon could do at the moment so there was no point dwelling on it. In his mind Legon recited a script that Arkin taught him.

Fear is the blinder. I am the light and master of sight. I will master my fear and never again see night.

As he repeated the script, he took deep breaths through his nose, each time letting tension out of his body. As he calmed, more things brought themselves to his attention. He focused on his sense of smell. With each breath he inhaled the scent of grass and trees. Next to his ears was the sound of the horses, Sasha and Sara talking, the creak of leather, and the buzz of a fly. Now he concentrated on touch, feeling the soft breeze as it cooled, telling him the sun was on its way down. The northern breeze was moist and dense. It would rain tonight. He had better take extra care setting up his tent.

"What the hell was going on? Legon could do magic?" Keither wondered what he had gotten himself into. He shifted himself in Murray's Saddle. Kovos slowed his horse and fell back in step with him.

"What do you think?" Kovos asked.

"I don't know. We're in over our heads, I'll tell you that much," replied Keither.

"Why is that? What do you know about magic?"

The others couldn't hear him, but he still kept quiet. People who used magic were rare, and magic itself was treated with respect and care. People were also scared of it because, frankly, not that much was known about it-at least not by the common person.

"I don't know much about it, but it may explain why Arkin was able to hide in Salmont without detection," Keither answered.

"Do we need to worry about getting taken over or something?"

This was an odd turn of the tables. Kovos was coming to him asking for advice. He never did that. Kovos had always treated him like a helpless little boy, but not now.

"Well, if Arkin wanted to hurt us he could have done it a long time ago. And I don't think that magic users can take you over, but I'm not sure."

"Ok, thanks."

Kovos righted himself in his saddle and resumed a normal pace. Keither should probably be worrying about magic right now, but that wasn't what was on his mind. Sara was on his mind, and also what he thought of the empire and the queen which, just hours before, he had thought weren't that bad.

In general, the whole of society was well taken care of, but at what cost? What Sara had gone through was appalling, but it sounded like it wasn't common. Sara was a prostitute, sure, but not everyone had to be that, most were probably labor of some sort. A chill ran down his back. How many luxuries did he have due to slavery?

Arkin was right. The queen was evil. That was the only word for it. How much of what Arkin told them was true? Also, how much of the propaganda about the resistance was true? There were a lot of questions running through his mind, and a lot of his previous views were changing rapidly. If Kovos had asked him a week ago about magic users, he would have said that they were bad news unless controlled by the government, but after what Legon did... "Maybe having people who know magic free of the government's control is a good thing," he thought.

Then it dawned on him. This whole thing was about magic and controlling it. What Legon had done was proof that if enough people in the empire knew about magic then the government could be held in check. Or could it? People knew magic and yet they still allowed horrible things to happen.

It felt good to be thinking. It was his element, his weapon. He leaned back in the saddle, finally comfortable on the horse. He tilted his head from side to side feeling his neck pop. Up ahead, Sara was doing the same as she talked to Legon and Sasha. It was good to see her again.

Legon felt that sensation in his head again and stopped hitting the tent spike he was driving into the ground.

"What is it?" Sasha asked concernedly.

"I think I'm going to use magic again." He shouldn't be scared but he was. What if he couldn't control this stuff? What if someone got hurt? Arkin spoke from across the camp.

"Is there something you really want done?"

"No not particularly. Actually, I could go for not feeling, well, whatever this is."

Arkin laughed. "Come here. I think we can put that to use."

Legon walked carefully over to the fire pit where Arkin was standing. He knew he looked like a moron, walking slowly as if he were holding a pail of water, but what if his control slipped?

"Don't worry, you can walk normally," Arkin said.

"I don't know. Are you sure?" replied Legon. "I mean, how much do you know about this stuff?"

"Obviously a lot, Legon, if he hid in town for as long as he did," Keither said.

"You don't know that."

"He's right, Legon." Arkin bent over the wood in the fire pit and uttered, "Flamma."

As he spoke, an emerald plume of flame erupted in the pit and then turned into a normal orange fire. There was a collective gasp and Kovos jumped as if someone had thrown a snake at his feet. Legon stopped, mouth open. How was Keither able to figure it out?

"How did you do that?" Legon asked.

"It's easy. You try." Arkin waved his hand over the fire and it died. "Come close to the pit and place your hand over it."

Legon knelt next to the blackened wood and placed his right hand tentatively over the still warm pit.

"Good. Now concentrate on that feeling in your head. Let it fill you."

"Fill me?"

"When you breathe in, imagine a flower blooming in your head, like when you feel energy move through you doing the Jezeer."

"Ok." Legon breathed deeply and concentrated. He felt the energy grow.

"Ok, good. Now I want you to think of starting a fire, ok? Picture flames in this pit in your head."

"Ok, got it."

"Good. Now, concentrating on that image, say the word "Flamma" and let the energy run down your arm and out your hand."

"Flamma." The sensation shot down his arm like before. He jerked his hand up and with a yell from everyone, a jet of violet flame burst from his hand and into the air. Sasha and Sara screamed, but the flame only lasted a second and then died. He noticed that he was on his feet and franticly shaking his hand.

"You're ok, Legon. Your hand is not on fire, relax," Arkin said.

"What the hell!" He slowly shook his hand, waiting for it to burn again. The flame didn't hurt; in fact it just felt kind of warm and good. Still, that was fire. Kovos looked amazed and excited.

"Do it again!" he shouted.

"Wha-?"

"Do it again. That was amazing. You shot fire out of your hand."

"I know, I was there. Why are you happy about it?"

"I thought I made it clear-you shot fire from your hand! Do it again, here, at Keither this time." Kovos reached over and grabbed Keither's arms, holding him in front of Legon.

"Kovos!" Sasha said angrily.

"What, Sasha? He'll be fine, come on."

"I'm not shooting fire at your brother. That's messed up," Legon said.

There was the sound of suppressed laughter. He turned to see Arkin and Sara both doubled over, shaking with laughter. Sasha gave them a stern look that was fading into a smile.

"Sara, you're laughing too?" she said.

"Yes, I can't help it. Kovos, come on, that's sick," she choked out through tears.

"Let go of me," Keither said, slapping Kovos away.

"Or what? You would have been fine. The fire was fast. It would only take off your eyebrows and some hair. Not a big deal."

"Kovos, only a smith would think that wasn't a big deal," Arkin said warmly. They settled down a bit and Arkin decided that it might be a good idea for Legon to learn more about magic before trying it again. They all sat around the fire pit and waited for Arkin to start for yet another night.

"Ok, Legon, I'm sorry. Truth be told, I didn't think you would even produce a spark for your first time trying to use magic."

"Well, is that bad then? And I did it by accident in Salez. I mean, is there something wrong?"

"There's nothing wrong with you, but you must be a powerful Venefica," Sara said. "I would think at least a class four... but wait, you're human." Sara turned to Arkin, looking concerned.

"A class what?" Sasha asked.

"Arkin is he part-"

"Elf? Yes, I am." Legon filled in the gaps. Sara's forehead knitted together and then a look of incredulity and joy crossed her face.

"You mean the Everser Vald?" Her voice was almost a whisper. The start of a tear formed in her eye.

"What di-" Legon began.

"Nothing. She said nothing," Arkin started hurriedly. "I will explain classes to you."

"He doesn't know?" Sara said with hurt and anger in her voice.

"Don't know what?" Legon asked.

"Wh-" Sara began.

"Nothing, Sara." Arkin went from impatient to angry. Sara opened her mouth but fell silent at a murderous glance from Arkin.

"Arkin don't you stop her, what was she saying to me?" Anger was flooding Legon as he turned to the carpenter. What was he not being told? "Tell me, I want to know!"

"You aren't ready to know, and even if you were I cannot permit it!"

"What you can do is tell me what you're hiding!" Legon stood and started toward Arkin slowly. He noticed Kovos by his side. Sasha reached up and grabbed his shoulder. He tried to shake it off but couldn't.

"Legon, no. This is not the answer."

It wasn't the words that stopped him, but the emotions. He turned to look straight into Sasha's glassy blue eyes. He could feel her overwhelming desire for no more violence. His anger left almost as fast as had come, and then the connection to Sasha stopped. He turned slowly to Arkin, who no longer looked angry, but rather sad.

"Arkin, what is happening?" There was fear in Legon's voice; more than he knew he was feeling.

"I want to tell you, but I don't. It's a great and terrible thing. Please, I have made many vows to keep this secret. Don't break them for me. Not yet, not now."

"We won't." It was Sasha who spoke. "But please tell us what you can."

"Sit down and I will relight the fire."

They sat in a circle around the pit and Arkin placed a trembling hand over the pit and muttered, "Flamma." A merry fire instantly began to crackle in the pit.

"Magic is an amazing thing. With it you can control the elements, make things grow, heal wounds, and so much more." He paused. "You see, magic is like a muscle. You can train it and make it stronger, but like a muscle it can become worn out. You can cast a spell and feel no tiring effect on your body, but if that spell is too strong for you, then energy is pulled from your body."

"So can you die from a spell then?" Legon asked.

Arkin looked relieved to hear the question. "No, you can't. You can pass out but you can't die. Once your mind loses consciousness it can't sustain the spell. However, it can take some time to recover. Once again, think of this as a muscle. Now, there are what are called *classes' to Venefica, Sara, do you know them?"

"Yes, my owner is Iumenta and a Venefica, so I learned a lot just being around him. There are eight classes. A class refers to the amount of power a Venefica has, regardless of skill."

"Meaning what?" Keither asked.

"Meaning your class has nothing to do with your ability. You can be a class five and not know what magic is," continued Sara. "Classes one and two humans can attain, usually just one. Next, Iumenta and Elves can reach up to class five, and I know dragons are higher, but that's it."

Arkin looked pleased. "Very good. To *Ascend' is to become a dragon. Only a class five can do this, and even then only a rare few. When someone *Ascends' they will be classes six through eight. Now, the difference in each class is large. There is a gap between them as far as power goes; meaning that if you are a strong class two you are still relatively weak to a class three. The same is more so for Ascending. The difference between classes five and six is like comparing a mountain lion to a kitten. Class sevens are extremely strong and class sixes are closer to them, relatively speaking, but class eight..." Arkin shook his head.

"What?" Kovos said.

"It's like there should be a class or two in between seven and eight, but there are no eights left from my understanding," Arkin answered.

"Why not?" Sara asked.

"That is another lesson," Arkin answered with a warm smile. This was starting to get on Legon's nerves. There was one secret after another. What possible threat could he be? Hadn't they proved that they were no friend of the empire? Also, what was going on with this new ability to sense emotions?

"What class are you?" he asked.

"I'm a class two." He was a two? Well, maybe if Legon was a three or four he could overpower Arkin if need be. He was out-classed in skill so he still might lose, but still this was a small comfort.

"Ok, so what all can magic do?" Legon asked.

"A lot of things, and there is still more and more being learned about it. Basically, magic is the lynch pin in the war between the queen and the free lands."

"You mean the resistance?" Keither asked.

"They're hardly that."